Greater New Orleans

Ray Nagin, former Mayor of New Orleans with his lawyer Robert Jenkins, left, walk into the Federal Courthouse on Poydras Street in New Orleans to be arraigned on federal corruption charges Wednesday, February 20.
(Photo by David Grunfeld, The Times-Picayune/NOLA.com)

Now that the federal government has thrown up its hands and backed away from River Birch Landfill owner Fred Heebe, former New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin would appear to be the big fish federal prosecutors here would most like to reel in. For most of us, it was jaw-dropping, the news that prosecutors had abandoned their pursuit of Heebe, but the former mayor must have felt the corners of his mouth curling up into a smile. The seemingly invincible feds had been defeated by a target with the money and the nerve to fight back.

But if Heebe's victory helped elevate the mood in Nagin's new Dallas-area home, Monday's conviction of another new Dallasite must have brought it crashing back down to earth. Former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick had moved to Texas, too. He returned to Detroit to stand trial on 30 counts that included racketeering and extortion. Monday morning, a jury returned guilty verdicts on 24 of those counts, and a federal judge sent Kilpatrick directly to jail.

It was a classic case of government corruption: Those seeking city contracts had to cut in one of the mayor's buddies to get the work. It was also a classic case of arrogance and entitlement. Kilpatrick dipped into money for a charity formed to help Detroit's children and used it to play golf and get his Namaste on. According to the Detroit News, even a witness brought in by Kilpatrick to testify for him laughed out loud when asked if a $900 check spent for a yoga class was an appropriate expense for the charity. "Not even close," he said.

&amp;lt;a href="http://polldaddy.com/poll/6955411/"&amp;gt;Which case is more likely to influence Ray Nagin's response to a 21-count indictment?&amp;lt;/a&amp;gt;

Kilpatrick faces at least 10 years in prison, but legal experts told the Detroit Free Press that he can expect additional time because he was an elected official at the time of his crimes and because the judge will want to send a message that public corruption will not be tolerated.

Anybody who chooses to rattle sabers with the feds has to give some thought to the humiliation that would accompany the almost certain defeat. Kilpatrick reportedly asked Monday that U.S. Marshals not handcuff him in front of his mother. He asked in vain. His wrists were shackled in her presence, and he was led away.

Kilpatrick had been in legal trouble before. Nagin has not. So even if the former New Orleans mayor is convicted of all 21 counts brought against him, it's unlikely that he would be summarily hauled off to jail. Even so, as a married father of three, he's got to be weighing the cons of fighting an opponent that hardly ever loses. Yes Heebe prevailed, but it might help to think of his success the way some people think of plane crashes.

If heightened vigilance after aviation accidents makes those times the safest to fly, perhaps the most dangerous time to test one's luck with federal prosecutors is after they've had one of their most celebrated cases crash and burn.